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The Hind and the Panther.
The first Reformers were a modest race,
Our Peers possess'd in peace their native place:
And when rebellious arms o'return'd the state,
They suffer'd onely in the common fate;
But now the Sov'reign mounts the regal chair
And mitr'd seats are full, yet David's bench is bare:
Your answer is, they were not dispossess'd,
They need but rub their mettle on the Test
To prove their ore: 'twere well if gold alone
Were touch'd and try'd on your discerning stone;
But that unfaithfull Test, unfound will pass
The dross of Atheists, and sectarian brass:
As if th' experiment were made to hold
For base productions, and reject the gold:
Thus men ungodded may to places rise,
And sects may be preferr'd without disguise:
No danger from the church or state from these,
The Papist onely has his Writ of ease.
Our Peers possess'd in peace their native place:
And when rebellious arms o'return'd the state,
They suffer'd onely in the common fate;
But now the Sov'reign mounts the regal chair
And mitr'd seats are full, yet David's bench is bare:
Your answer is, they were not dispossess'd,
They need but rub their mettle on the Test
To prove their ore: 'twere well if gold alone
Were touch'd and try'd on your discerning stone;
But that unfaithfull Test, unfound will pass
The dross of Atheists, and sectarian brass:
As if th' experiment were made to hold
For base productions, and reject the gold:
Thus men ungodded may to places rise,
And sects may be preferr'd without disguise:
No danger from the church or state from these,
The Papist onely has his Writ of ease.
No
